Director, Underwriting - Life

Nationwide • Grandview Heights, OH

6d • $138,000 - $243,000 • Remote

About The Position

Nationwide Financial is seeking a market-facing life underwriting leader to lead the day-to-day operations of the Life Underwriting team within its Life New Business organization. The Director leads a team aligned to national BGA, brokerage, and producer relationships, delivering technically sound underwriting decisions and a consistent, high-touch experience for producers, firms, and business partners. The role combines complex medical and financial underwriting judgment, relationship management, operating-model and capacity planning, and development of underwriting talent.

The team assesses mortality risk and manages morbidity risk for long-term care insurance. Its business mix includes mostly universal life, term, long-term care, and variable universal life, and it handles the largest mortality risks within underwriting. Underwriters assess applications by evaluating medical history, occupational hazards, financial background, insurable interest, and other relevant information. The Director's stated authority includes handling life cases up to $15 million, morbidity underwriting sign-off up to $1 million, and sign-off authority for exceptions on Intelligent Underwriting.

The position reports to the Life Underwriting Executive and leads 10 to 12 underwriters. It is open to fully remote work within the lower 48 U.S. states, with some travel required. The role is exempt from overtime eligibility and works in a normal office environment. Nationwide does not provide employer-sponsored work authorization for this role and does not participate in the STEM OPT Extension program.

Requirements

• More than 10 years of life underwriting experience.
• More than five years of formal leadership experience.
• Validated technical ability to evaluate and underwrite medical or non-medical risks; extensive knowledge of life underwriting risk selection, brokerage, older-age underwriting, policies, practices, procedures, and techniques.
• Ability to analyze sophisticated insurance risks, including policy language, alternative rating plans and methodologies, pricing theory, and reinsurance considerations.
• Knowledge of regulatory issues, life insurance market conditions, and company operations.
• Ability to make sound decisions on highly complex and ambiguous issues with minimal direction, using judgment, creative problem solving, and conflict-resolution skills.
• Strong communication, teamwork, presentation, negotiation, and influencing skills; ability to partner with reinsurers and outside sales agencies or firms.
• Ability to work with brokerage distribution and a highly technical team, and to build trusted, relationship-driven partnerships.
• People leadership ability, including coaching, training, mentoring, and developing underwriters with diverse levels of expertise.
• Adaptability and resilience; ability to lead others through change and handle ambiguity flexibly and responsively.
• Ability to provide an outside-in perspective, stay informed about the industry, and share relevant findings and ideas with leadership and the team.
• Undergraduate studies in Business Administration or a related field.
• Ability to handle or oversee large-case life underwriting; experience with cases over $10 million is strongly preferred.

Nice To Haves

• Prior carrier experience.
• EKG certification.
• Professional or technical studies or designations such as Chartered Life Underwriter (CLU), Fellow of the Life Management Institute (FLMI), or Fellow of the Academy of Life Underwriting (FALU).
• FALU, including all AALU requirements, ALU 301, and three fellowship electives, with CLU or advanced sales concept training.
• Experience handling $10 million-plus life underwriting cases.

Responsibilities

• Lead and oversee a team of life underwriters aligned to national BGA, brokerage, and producer relationships; establish team practices, quality and production standards, and relationship-management expectations.
• Own high-touch underwriting service relationships, working with distribution, Sales, firms, producers, customers, and internal stakeholders to understand needs, resolve issues, and support client and asset retention.
• Make and guide complex medical and financial underwriting decisions, including large-case opportunities, exceptions, and cases requiring judgment beyond a purely rules-based approach; explain and, when appropriate, renegotiate underwriting decisions with field and sales partners.
• Use production, case-mix, and capacity insights to align talent and workflow with relationship needs and face-amount segments.
• Coach, mentor, hire, and manage the performance of underwriters; build technical capability, support professional development and succession planning, and create career paths.
• Represent Nationwide with distribution and external partners through presentations and direct contact; communicate and advocate for underwriting decisions, navigate negotiations, deepen relationships, and help capture market opportunities.
• Partner with Sales, reinsurance, medical, operations, underwriting leadership, and other internal and external stakeholders to support case outcomes, service excellence, risk discipline, and profitable growth.
• Lead or sponsor major projects, industry-wide committee activities, relationship-management guidelines, and operational improvements that advance customer service and meet industry and regulatory requirements.
• Ensure clients are served promptly and quality standards are met or exceeded; respond to service issues and coordinate with relevant partners to resolve them.
• Implement state and federal regulatory requirements for products and procedures; keep Operations informed and prepared for audits and regulatory or legislative changes, coordinate regulatory responses, and oversee regulatory reports and findings in partnership with Corporate Compliance.
• Use customer feedback, audits, and calibration sessions to identify and lead continuous-improvement opportunities in processes, procedures, and technology, including opportunities beyond the team.
• Manage expenses and budget; support annual staffing and funding plans and implement solutions to streamline processes and reduce operating expenses while maintaining service levels.
• Support budget goals through staffing, requirements management, use of third-party services and contractors, accelerated underwriting, and accountability for production and quality standards.
• Perform other responsibilities as assigned.

Benefits

• Medical, dental, and vision coverage.
• Life insurance.
• Short- and long-term disability coverage.
• Paid time off: newly hired associates receive a minimum of 18 days per full calendar year, prorated quarterly based on hire date.
• Nine paid holidays.
• Eight hours of Lifetime paid time off.
• Eight hours of Unity Day paid time off.
• 401(k) with company match.
• Company-paid pension plan.
• Business casual attire.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Director